


And The Beat(le) Goes On

by Cerdic519



Series: Name That Tune [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Destiel - Freeform, M/M, References to the Beatles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-08 09:24:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 5,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1935591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerdic519/pseuds/Cerdic519
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The lives and loves of Castiel and Dean, as seen through the hits of a certain 1960s pop group.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hey Jude

It said something that Tessa Novak didn't even blink when her front door swung violently open, and there was a flash of brown leather disappearing up the stairs. Instead, she went into the kitchen and popped a batch of cookies into the microwave. Her husband Chuck looked up from whatever he was writing and frowned.

“Dean?” he asked.

“Dean”, she sighed, setting the timer for ninety seconds before crossing to get the milk out of the fridge.

+~+~+

Dean Winchester never knew how he got to the Novaks' house. One moment he had been standing in the changing rooms, watching Alistair McArdle sticking his tongue down Lisa Braeden's throat – his girlfriend, or so he had thought – the next he was lying on his best friend's bed hugging the pillow, trying not to cry like a girl. He had been so sure of her, and now this!

Castiel Novak checked his watch, then went to the door to collect the milk and warm cookies he knew his mom would have ready for him. Placing them well out of reach of his sobbing fellow-teenager – Dean tended to flail sometimes when upset - he gently eased his friend upright, wrapping a comforting arm around him. Gradually the sobs turned to sniffles before the taller boy got a grip of himself. He looked awkwardly at his friend.

“As if I'd tell anyone!” Castiel said almost scornfully, reading his mind as usual.

Dean hiccuped. Castiel fetched the tray over, and they both tucked in. Dean was unusually silent, and Castiel wondered why.

“Why is it never you?” the blond muttered eventually.

“Pardon?” Castiel looked at him in confusion

“Why is it never you?” Dean repeated. “How come you never end up on my bed, screaming like a girl?”

“Maybe because I don't try to sleep with every girl in school”, Castiel said gently. He reached over for the remote, and clicked on it. A familiar tune filled the room, and Dean managed a smile.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad,  
Take a sad song and make it better,  
Remember to let her into your heart,  
Then you can start to make it better.

“I did let her into my heart”, Dean whispered. “And look what happened?”

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,  
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders,  
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool,  
By making his world a little colder.

“That's you”, Castiel whispered, pulling Dean back into a one-armed hug. “You're always there for your friends, Sam wouldn't be where he is today without you, and you always act like you don't care. Dean, my friend, you care too much.”

Dean could feel himself tearing up again, and leaned into his friend's warm body, his head on the other boy's shoulder. Hell, he always had Cas, didn't he? That made everything.... well, not okay, but bearable.

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,  
You're waiting for someone to perform with,  
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do,  
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

On my shoulder, Dean thought wryly. Yeah, the one person in this world I can rely on, except I always lean on his shoulder. I'm so lucky to have him.

He would have cause to remember that thought quite soon.


	2. Hello, Goodbye

It was exactly eleven days after the Braeden incident that Dean, having finished some clothes shopping for Sam, decided to swing round and call in at Cas' place on the way home. 

It proved to be a mistake. The place was a mess, with stuff everywhere.

“Y'all having a clear out?” he asked, as Castiel stumbled out under a huge pile of clothes.

His friend looked at him, and for some reason the word that immediately sprung to Dean's mind was 'embarrassed'. But what would his friend possibly have to feel embarrassed about?

The sound of familiar music was drifting out through the open front door, and Dean grinned as he recognized an old standard:

You say yes, I say no,  
You say stop and I say go go go, oh no.  
You say goodbye and I say hello  
Hello hello,  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.  
Hello hello,  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.

“Is this goodbye, Cas?” Dean asked jokingly.

His friend looked even more embarrassed. 

“Er... sort of, Dean.”

And the bottom promptly fell out of Dean's world.

“You're leaving!” he said in astonishment.

“Maybe not for good”, Castiel said, trying and failing to sound reassuring. “It's Aunt Rachel. She's had a bad fall, and mom and dad have decided to move to Bangor so they can be close to her, if... you know.”

Dean nodded dumbly. Rachel Torrance, technically Castiel's great-great-aunt, was a formidable figure; Dean had met her a few years back, and been terrified by her. She had a habit of lashing out with her walking-stick at anything or anyone who displeased her, as Dean had found out to his cost. And she lived in freakin' Maine!

“So... you might not be coming back?” he managed.

“She is in hospital, Dean”, Castiel said calmingly, moving to place a hand on the taller boy's arm. Dean looked down at the contact, and blinked in shock. Castiel had always been there for him ever since they had met at kindergarten over a decade ago, and now...... he might be losing him.

“Promise you'll write”, he urged, trying not to sound desperate. “Or email. You've got my address.”

“I promise”, Castiel said firmly, and Dean knew immediately that he would, because he was just Cas. “I have to get on with the packing and sorting now, but can I come over this evening to say goodbye?”

You say goodbye and I say hello.  
Hello hello,  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.  
Hello hello,  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.

I don't want you to say goodbye, Dean thought bitterly. Not unless I can be guaranteed a hello again. 

“Sure”, he managed. “Gotta go now, Cas. Take care, bud.”

He broke away from the contact and made his way back to the Impala, wondering why the warm summer wind was making his eyes tear up.


	3. Yesterday

As he always did at times of crisis, Dean headed straight for Charlie's house, hoping desperately that the mad redhead would be home. Judging from the music that was filtering from the upstairs open window, she was. Even better, her hippie parents' excuse for a car was missing, which meant she was alone. Dean hurried through the door and up the stairs.

He burst into the room, not surprised to find her at her computer again. Heck, if she was the next evolution of humanity, the race would soon start growing laptops from their hips.

“Cas is gone!” he said urgently.

She looked up at him in surprise. 

“Gone where?” she asked, puzzled.

“To stay with his aunt in Maine”, he said, sounding almost angry. Hell, why couldn't Cas' aunt live somewhere in state?

Charlie looked at him consideringly, and there was a pointed silence as a new tune came on. Dean huffed a laugh at the timing.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,  
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.  
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,  
There's a shadow hanging over me.  
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

“Did you say anything?” she asked.

“Like what?” he demanded.

“Like admitting how you feel about him.”

He looked at her in shock.

“Charlie, Cas is a dude!”

“Glad to see you figured that one out!” she teased, and he relaxed somewhat. “And your point?”

“Er, I'm straight?”

“Pretty sure you're Cas-sexual, Dean. Anything female plus the blue-eyed beauty. Heck, if I wasn't into chicks, I'd tap me some of that!”

He glared at her.

“Not helping!”

“I just thought you two would always get together some day”, she said, sounding almost wistful. “Is he gone for good?”

“He doesn't know”, Dean said. “Depends on how ill his aunt is.”

“Then he could come back”, she said. “Chin up, young padawan; you go to the kitchen and grab the popcorn, and I'll set up Star Wars.”

“A New Hope?”

“There's always hope”, she told him.

He grinned at her. She always knew what to say. As he left the room, the song was just finishing.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,  
Now I need a place to hide away.  
Oh, I believe in yesterday.


	4. The Long And Winding Road

Sam looked at Dean in surprise.

“Hey, where're we going?” he demanded.

Dean blushed. He should have guessed the sasquatch would have noticed.

“School”, he said defensively. “Where else?”

“But that's left”, Sam pointed out. “Why are we going up past the mini-mall? That takes way longer.”

Because the normal route leads past Cas' house, and someone else has moved in there, and seeing their car outside reminds me he might never be coming back, Dean thought glumly. Noticing that his brother looked set to pursue the matter, he turned the stereo up to drown him out:

The long and winding road that leads to your door,  
Will never disappear.  
I've seen that road before, it always leads me here,  
Leads me to your door.

Sam looked at him thoughtfully, but either he didn't get it, or more worryingly, he did and was keeping quiet. Dean suspected, if not feared, the latter.

+~+~+

Sam had Astronomy Club or something equally nerdy after school that day, and was getting a ride home with one of his fellow nerds, so Dean had Baby to himself that evening. He drove home without thinking, and only when he stopped did he realize what he had done.

He had driven to Cas' house.

He had gotten an email from his friend the night before, which had contained the news that Aunt Rachel thought she was dying, whilst her doctors thought she was a complete hypochondriac. Cas' parents wanted to stay in Maine for the foreseeable future, but the boy himself wanted to return to Kansas to finish the last year of his education. 

Dean sighed heavily at the sight of not-Cas'-parents'-car in the driveway of not-Cas' house, and made his way home. Thank heavens for Uncle Bobby, his late dad's friend, who had taken them in when his father finally crashed and burned in that car accident two years ago. Bobby was a miserable old coot, but he had a heart of gold in there. Even if it was bloody well hidden.

He also had acute hearing for someone his age, as Dean found out when he heard a familiar holler as he tried to make for the stairs and the relative safety of his room. He sighed, and made his way into his uncle's lounge. Bobby glared at him.

“Need you to clean out the spare room this weekend”, he said curtly. “We're having company.”

“Who?” Dean asked disinterestedly.

There was the shortest of pauses before the man's answer.

“Spoke to Tessa Novak earlier”, he said. “Her kid, that weird friend of yours, wants to complete his final year at school back here, so I said I could put him up until she and her husband get back. Not a problem, is it?”

The look he was giving Dean was far too knowing. The boy blushed, before shaking his head. 

“Not at all”, he said, still trying to wrap his mind around Cas coming back, and to prevent a smile from breaking across his face. “Hey, I'll start tonight!”

He bolted upstairs, not missing his uncle's muttered “idjit!”, and paused only to turn the stereo on in his room before crossing the corridor to start clearing out the spare room opposite. He laughed when he recognized the same song from that morning, when he had been feeling so down:

But still they lead me back to the long and winding road.  
You left me standing here a long, long time ago.  
Don't keep me waiting here (Don't keep me wait), lead me to you door.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, he thought. Cas is coming home!


	5. Till There Was You

There were bells on a hill,  
But I never heard them ringing,  
No, I never heard them at all,  
Till there was you.

There were birds in the sky,  
But I never saw them winging,  
No, I never saw them at all,  
Till there was you.

Then there was music and wonderful roses,  
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows,  
Of dawn and dew.

“Shut it, Sammy, or I'll blindfold you and take you to the circus!” Dean almost snarled, as his brother sniggered at him in the kitchen that Sunday. Cas was due to arrive in three hours, and his room still wasn't ready. Well, that wasn't strictly true; it was liveable, but Dean wanted the best for his friend, and his brother choosing to play that particular Beatles classic on repeat was so not appreciated. 

“Is little Deanie's boyfriend coming to stay?” Sam teased.

“Front row seat, right when the clowns come in”, Dean muttered. “The next time they come to town, I swear....”

“Did you leave a rose on his pillow?” Sam chuckled. 

Yoghurt in his shampoo tomorrow, Dean thought, as he filled another bucket with water and cleaning fluid.

“Cas is just a friend, Sammy”, he said. “A friend with sensible hair, for one thing! This way, he doesn't have to move schools in his last year.”

“And he'll be right across the corridor from you!” Sam reminded him. “His bed less than a few yards away....”

Dean snapped.

“He is so not my boyfriend!” he almost yelled, turning to glare at his brother.

And because the gods clearly hated Dean Winchester, Cas was standing in the kitchen doorway, holding a brown suitcase.

“Um, sorry if I'm early”, he said, blushing fiercely.

Dean snapped out of his shock, hurrying over to take his friend's case (though not without taking the chance to smack his brother upside of the head in passing).

“Let me show you to your room!” he said, eager to get his friend away from his teasing little brother, who had also just qualified for itching powder in his boxers later in the week. Castiel did that cute half-smile of his, and Dean;s heart definitely did not skip a beat. Probably. He led the way upstairs, remembering too late that Sam's stereo was still on from the room next to his:

There was love all around,  
But I never heard it singing,  
No, I never heard it at all,  
Till there was you.

Then there was music and wonderful roses,  
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows,  
Of dawn and dew.

There was love all around,  
But I never heard it singing,  
No, I never heard it at all,  
Till there was you,  
Till there was you.

“Thank you, Dean”, Castiel smiled. “It's good to be back. I missed you in Maine.”

“Same here”, Dean admitted. 

Castiel raised an eyebrow at him.

“So?” he said. “No rose on the pillow?”

Sod the itching powder, Dean was going to kill Sam!


	6. Something

So Cas was back.

Scratch that. Cas was not only back, he was sleeping in the room across from Dean. Which meant that their beds were barely the width of the corridor apart. Which meant Dean could lie awake at night and.....

Scratch that!

+~+~+

Bobby had gone to spend a week with a friend out of state, which meant that the boys had the house to themselves for Cas' first week back at school. And so what if Dean decided this was the perfect time to cook a full English breakfast with all the trimmings? He was just glad to have his friend back. 

If his brother sniggered one more time, Dean was calling that hire-a-clown line.

Of course, one of the two things Dean had forgotten was that Cas was not a morning person. When the dark-haired boy stumbled into the kitchen and all but fell into the chair at the end of the table, Dean would have smiled, had his attention not been drawn to the fact that Cas seemingly had nothing on under that dressing-gown. And then, the damned radio had to kick in and add to the mix:

Something in the way he moves,  
Attracts me like no other lover.  
Something in the way he woos me.

I don't want to leave him now,  
You know I believe and how.

Somewhere in his smile he knows,  
That I don't need no other lover.  
Something in his style that shows me.

Don't want to leave him now,  
You know I believe and how.

“Mornin'”, Castiel muttered, sighing blissfully when Sam carefully moved a steaming cup of coffee into his line of vision. He grasped at it like it was the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

“Dean's cooked a welcome back breakfast”, Sam announced cheerfully, earning himself an appreciative grunt from the newcomer. “For your first day back, Cas.”

“Didn't want you to have to face the horrors of the American education system on an empty stomach”, Dean said dismissively, as Sam stared impatiently at him. He spooned up a plate for his friend, and placed it in front of him. “Eat.”

Of course Cas had to turn those impossibly blue eyes on him, smiling gratefully.

“I could love you for this”, he muttered, laying into the feast before him.

Something in the way he knows,  
And all I have to do is think of him.  
Something in the things he shows me.

Don't want to leave him now,  
You know I believe and how.

Dean served up his and his brother's plates, ignoring the 'Cas got served first' look he was getting from the moose. Though it was harder to ignore the happy sighs of contentment coming from the end of the table. Cas had always appreciated good food, but why did he have to make the sort of noises which made happy things happen to Dean under the table?

They finished their meals, and Dean threw the plates into the sink, thinking to wash them later. Once outside, Sam surprised him by quickly taking the back seat, leaving Cas to ride shotgun. The younger boy looked longingly at the radio. Dean sighed.

“First day back”, he said gruffly.

“What?” Castiel asked.

“Only because it's your first day back, you can choose the music”, Dean said, shooting a warning glare towards the back seat. His brother smirked, but said nothing as Castiel fiddled happily with the dial before finding.....

Something in the way he moves....

Dean resisted the urge to bang his head on the steering-wheel. Narrowly, but he did resist it.


	7. Love Me Do

The Universe, Dean Winchester had decided, hated him. About the only thing remotely salvageable from the disaster that was unfolding was that his moose of a brother wasn't there to witness it, staying late again for some club or other. Which was just as well, really.

Dean had got through a fairly uneventful day, in which Cas had been in all but the last of his classes, the elective where his friend took Advanced Art whilst Dean went for Mechanical Engineering (he probably knew more than the teacher, but it would look good on any future résumé). One advantage was that the class was in the garage attached to the school for such courses, which meant only a short walk to Baby and then a wait for Cas.

Dean fiddled with the radio, and smiled inwardly when he heard a familiar tune come blaring out:

Love, love me do,  
You know I love you,  
I'll always be true,  
So please, love me do.  
Whoa, love me do.

He was considering whether to change the station when there was a tap at the window, and he looked up to see Cas. He smiled....

….. until his friend took off his t-shirt and slid into the car next to him. Dean wasn't sure whether the sudden loss of vocal functions, the shortness of breath, or the painful tightness in his pants was of more pressing concern. Castiel smiled at him.

“Sorry about this”, he grinned, holding up a carrier-bag containing his shirt, “but some idiot spilled a whole ton of paint over me right at the end of class, and I didn't want to get Baby dirty.”

“Yeah!” Dean blurted out. “Thanks. Considerate. Um, you've.... toned up a bit?”

“Maine”, Castiel said as if that explained it all. Fortunately he went on, “Aunt Rachel lives in a great neighborhood, and I went out jogging every day. Otherwise all that hospital food would have gone straight to the waist.”

“Your waist is fine”, Dean said, before blushing fiercely. “Not that it..... I mean...... I'll just shut up!”

He concentrated on driving home, grateful that Cas restricted his reaction to a small smile.

 

Love, love me do,  
You know I love you,  
I'll always be true,  
So please, love me do.  
Whoa, love me do,  
Yeah, love me do,  
Whoa, oh, love me do.

Of course, when he got home, Charlie just had to be sat on the porch waiting for him. When she saw a shirtless Castiel going into the house, she raised a quizzical eyebrow at her friend.

“Not one word, Bradbury!” Dean growled, letting her in. He went straight to the fridge and extracted beers for both of them, downing most of his in a single go. 

“Hot today, isn't it?” she muttered.

He glared at her warningly.

“I was only referring to the weather”, she said, with an innocence that was some way beyond believable. 

Cas came in at that moment, and Dean turned to offer him a beer for himself, only to freeze. Ye Gods, Cas was wearing his Zeppelin shirt.

“I hope you don't mind, Dean”, he said politely, “but I borrowed this.”

“Sure”, he said, trying not to think either how good the oversized thing looked on Cas' slender frame, or on Charlie's sudden coughing fit. “Any time.”

He went across to get his beer, and Dean looked up to see Charlie trying hard to restrain her laughter. At the look on his face, she gestured a zipping motion across her mouth, but was clearly enjoying his discomfiture far too much.

Cow!


	8. Nowhere Man

He's a real nowhere man,  
Sitting in his nowhere land,  
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,  
Knows not where he's going to,  
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

“Appropriate, huh?”

Dean did not jump and let out a girly shriek, no matter how much it looked and sounded like he did. He spun round to see his surrogate uncle looking hard at him.

Shit!

“Principal Moseley called about Alistair McFadden's nose”, Bobby said, looking meaningfully at Dean. “Anything to say?”

Dean blushed.

“He had it coming!” he said darkly. “He and those baboons he hangs out with were picking on Cas!”

“Castiel as in Castiel who had a black belt in judo?” Bobby said wryly.

“Still picking on him”, Dean muttered. “And you know Cas. He'd never be the first one to hit out.”

“So you hit out for him?” Bobby said with a sigh. “Son, don't you think it's about time you told him?”

“Told him what?” Dean asked puzzled.

Bobby looked as if he was really making an effort.

“Hell, you're gonna make me use the F-word, aren't ya?”

“Bobby...”

“Feel, son! Hell, the way you stare at him, it's like you're witnessing the Second Coming or somethin'! All you need is a flashin' neon sign saying 'Young, Horny And Desperate', and it'd be complete. Just tell the kid!”

Dean stared at him in amazement.

“And you wouldn't....” he finally managed.

Bobby grinned at him.

“Would hardly have let the kid into my own house if I hadn't have suspected, would I?” he smirked. “Go get 'im, tiger!”

He left the kitchen, leaving a gobsmacked Dean leaning against the fridge for support. The last lines of the song trailed out of the radio:

He's a real Nowhere Man,  
Sitting in his nowhere land,  
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.  
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.  
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.

Not for nobody, he thought determinedly. For Cas. For.... the guy I love.


	9. Fool On The Hill

Dean had it all planned out. He would take Cas to his room, sit him down and tell him how he truly felt about him, and that he would understand if Cas didn't feel the same way about him, but he hoped the boy would give him time to woo him....

Woo? Dean winced. Ugh, he was turning into Sam!

Cas was due back from his morning run, so Dean decided to welcome him back with another full breakfast. He was almost ready when the boy in question jogged through the door, looking oddly happy. Cas looked across at the stereo, and grinned.

Day after day, alone on the hill,  
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.  
But nobody wants to know him,  
They can see that he's just a fool,  
And he never gives an answer,  
But the fool on the hill,  
Sees the sun going down,  
And the eyes in his head,  
See the world spinning around.

“Good choice”, he said, smiling his gummy smile. “Guess what happened to me this morning?”

“What?” Dean asked, split between serving breakfast and trying to regain his courage which, it seemed, had bolted out the door the moment his friend had returned.

“Balthazar, that rich dude who lives on Strawberry Hill”, Castiel said, eying the food appreciatively. 

Dean snorted. Balthazar Roche was a student at the local university who, gossip said, had come over on the back of an unexpected inheritance. He wore the same sort of over-sized sweaters that Cas did, and had already garnered a reputation for bedding anything with a pulse. Not that Dean was in a position to criticize, although he hadn't been dating as much recently, ever since....

Ever since Cas left for Maine and you realized your feelings for him, a smug inner voice snarked. Dean groaned inwardly. Since when did his conscience have to start sounding like his moose of a little brother?

“Guy's a dick!” Dean muttered, putting Castiel's plate in front of him.

“He asked me out”, Cas said, reaching for the ketchup.

Dean froze.

“What?” he almost shrieked. Castiel looked surprised at his reaction, and in the silence that followed, the song played out:

And nobody seems to like him,  
They can tell what he wants to do.  
And he never shows his feelings,  
But the fool on the hill...  
Sees the sun going down,  
And the eyes in his head,  
See the world spinning around.

“You shouldn't judge him based on his reputation”, Cas said reprovingly. “Mmm, delicious!”

Dean stared at him in horror. His friend, who he had been moments away from opening his heart to, was dating the local slut.

His life sucked!


	10. With A Little Help From My Friends

Dean half-stumbled up the path to Charlie's house, praying to God that the mad redhead would be in. Mercifully, judging from the music coming through the open window, she was, although Dean huffed a laugh as he recognized the tune:

What would you think if I sang out of tune,  
Would you stand up and walk out on me?  
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,  
And I'll try not to sing out of key.  
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.  
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends.  
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends.

“What went wrong?” she demanded, as she got his favourite ice-cream and – the saints preserve the girl – apple pie out of the fridge. She scooped a slice of the ice-cream on top of the pie, stuck a spoon in it and slid it across the table, looking worriedly at her friend.

“He found someone else!” Dean said bitterly. “Just my luck! I'm all set to lay my heart on the line, and he comes in and says he's been asked on a date by that dick Balthazar!”

Charlie winced. Though she did not swing that way, she could easily see why Castiel would consider Balthazar attractive. The tall guy was charming in an offhand sort of way, and she had long been afraid that, should Dean not make a move in time, the Englishman would get in first. Now, it seemed, he had done just that.

“It may not work out”, she said comfortingly. “I mean, Cas could see right through him, and decide he wants someone more, I don't know... real? Someone like you.”

Dean snorted. 

“Yeah, he'd definitely prefer the failed mechanic to the billionaire with his own house, won't he?” he almost sneered. He stuck his fork viciously into the pie and scooped out a large slice, then coughed violently at the coldness of the ice-cream. Charlie slapped him on his back.

“All I'm saying is, don't give up”, she advised. She got up. “Come on, bring your pie. Let's go kill some zombies!”

He gave her a watery smile, and followed her from the room as the tune finished:

 

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.  
Mm going to try with a little help from my friends.  
Oh I get high with a little help from my friends.  
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends.  
With a little help from my friends.

+~+~+

“Castiel and that new friend of his were over earlier”, Bobby said when he returned later that day. “Tall blond idjit, horrible cardigan. Spoke funny.”

“That's Balthazar”, Dean said. 

“He drives a friggin' Mini!” Bobby almost sneered. “Boy, if you lose out on your boy to that, I'm disowning you!”

He cuffed Dean lightly upside the head as he left the room, leaving his surrogate son deep in thought.


	11. Ticket To Ride

“Balthazar is going back to England.”

Fortunately Dean was facing away from Castiel in the kitchen when his friend uttered those words, so the gleeful smile hopefully went unnoticed. He could do the fist-pump and victory dance later.

“He wants me to go with him.”

Dean spun round so fast that he nearly knocked the frying-pan off the stove.

“What?” he almost shouted. “You barely know him!”

Castiel looked curiously at him, and in the silence that followed, the radio blared out a familiar and horribly fitting tune:

I think I'm gonna be sad,  
I think it's today, yeah.  
The boy that's driving me mad,  
Is going away.

He's got a ticket to ride.  
He's got a ticket to ride.  
He's got a ticket to ride.  
But he don't care.

“You can't go, Cas!” Dean said urgently. “I mean, what about college?”

“Balthazar has friends who can get me into either Oxford or Cambridge”, Castiel told him. “Both excellent schools.”

“It's another friggin' country!”

“We speak the same language. More or less. And I'd have Balthazar.”

“What about me?”

Castiel turned away slightly, and Dean could have sworn he was trembling.

He said that living with me,  
Is bringing him down, yeah.  
For he would never be free,  
When I was around.

“I'm really grateful to Bobby”, Castiel said carefully, “but living here... it hasn't been easy.”

“Why?” Dean demanded at once. 

He had expected Castiel to come up with some lame excuse, or to just say nothing. What he hadn't expected was for his lifelong friend to suddenly shoot up, come way too far into his personal space, and look his straight in the eyes.

“Because I love you, Dean Winchester”, he said, his voice shaking only slightly. “I love you so much, and I can't stay here knowing that you just see me as.... mmmphm...”

Whatever Castiel Novak had been about to say next was lost beneath the smothering effect of Dean Winchester's lips, as they kissed the living daylights out of him. Eventually they head to break apart for air. Castiel looked at his friend in shock.

“I love you so damn much!” Dean growled. “And there is nothing in the world that will ever keep us apart, Cas!”

“I will if you don't take that friggin' bacon off the stove before it burns, idjit!”

Both boys jumped, as Bobby slouched his way to the table. They looked at each other, and each smiled slightly.

“Breakfast first!” Bobby demanded. “You can do all that goo-goo eyed stuff later, once I'm out the house. And that's an order!”

“Yes, sir!”, they said in unison, before Castiel went to sit at the table and Dean returned to salvage the bacon.


	12. When I'm Sixty-Four

Six months later

Ye Gods, how had Dean Winchester ever gotten so lucky?

It was barely an hour after their graduation ceremony, and he was lying in bed with a lump of post-coital bliss that was his boyfriend. His boyfriend! Castiel James Novak. Life was sweet!

Dean would have been lying if he hadn't have had more than a few reservations about sex with his best friend. After all, he was (until recently) the local Lothario, whilst Cas was the original Vestal Virgin. It turned out, however, that the Vestal Virgin had really done his research on the subject, to the point that Bobby and Sammy insisted on them keeping the radio on during sex to drown out Dean's groans and yells. Though they both smirked any day when Dean found walking or sitting down more painful than usual. 

When I get older losing my hair,  
Many years from now,  
Will you still be sending me a Valentine?  
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?  
If I'd been out till quarter to three,  
Would you lock the door?  
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,  
When I'm sixty-four?

“Bet we'll still be having sex when we're both sixty-four”, Castiel muttered, shifting to face his boyfriend. “In fact, I guarantee it!”

Dean chuckled.

I could be handy, mending a fuse,  
When your lights have gone.  
You can knit a sweater by the fireside,  
Sunday mornings go for a ride.  
Doing the garden, digging the weeds,  
Who could ask for more?  
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,  
When I'm sixty-four?

“I can't believe you got into State”, Dean muttered into the impossible bed-hair. “Or that your parents let you.”

“You got in too”, Castiel pointed out.

“Only 'cause you tutored me.”

“A tutor can't make someone brainy”, Castiel said. “They can only bring out what's already there.

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,  
Stating point of view.  
Indicate precisely what you mean to say,  
Yours sincerely, wasting away.  
Give me your answer, fill in a form,  
Mine for evermore.  
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,  
When I'm sixty-four?

“I won't need to write you because we are never going to be apart, Dean Winchester”, Castiel said, and Dean shuddered at the command in that voice. “You are always gonna be mine, for ever more, from now till when we are sixty-four. And beyond.”

Dean felt to the enormous hickey that Castiel had laid on his neck, and grinned. That would so gross Sammy out! He cuddled closer to his boyfriend – he was only doing it because Cas liked cuddling – and sighed contentedly.

Life was so good.


End file.
